G_O_D wrote:<quoted text>Even those who engage in sexual immorality, impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, rivalry, jealously, outbursts of anger, quarrels, conflicts, factions, envy, murder, drunkenness, wild partying, and things like that.?Out of the 16 things you have listed,(yes I engaged in all of them before I accepted Jesus), I only still engage in 4. Maybe in another 3 years I'll be ok :D

<quoted text>I just had a revelation reading your post.Christianity has nothing to do with believing in God and Jesus. It is believing in Constantine's Bible (and it it's variants) and however a particular sect interprets it. Nothing more.Note that they defend the Bible (esp. GoJohn and Paul) more than Jesus and God.I have been bashed more for my rejection of PAul than mt Rejection of the ressurection. Go figure.

I won't bash you, you're searching and there's nothing wrong with that :D

<quoted text>I just had a revelation reading your post.Christianity has nothing to do with believing in God and Jesus. It is believing in Constantine's Bible (and it it's variants) and however a particular sect interprets it. Nothing more.Note that they defend the Bible (esp. GoJohn and Paul) more than Jesus and God.I have been bashed more for my rejection of PAul than mt Rejection of the ressurection. Go figure.

You hadn't realized that until now? Pft, that was the entire reason they "translated" it in the first place.

It's difficult not to sound condescending when saying this, but, the bible was actually written with that very intention in the first place. It was cropped, chopped, and cut up then sewn back together with the specific notion that the preachers, religious leaders, can justify commanding what they wanted the followers to do, and have a "reference" for why it's a valid position and action to take. People justify the contradictions, either by saying it "must be interpreted," while really just ignoring the parts they're told to by the preachers, or they say it's "out of context," when it's actually suppose to be taken out of context anyway. There are now four modern religions that are constructed that way, for that very reason, and one is actually a christian one with supplemental books.

The key to a good con is to trick people into thinking that it's "foolish" to doubt it, or to prey on them when they really just need some words of encouragement by giving them a cookie cutter "feel good" story. Once they are hooked you draw them in with enforcement assertions, like "you need this," or "without this you will be empty." It's how they use to sell snake oil for curing illness, same exact concept, and how they trick people into buying herbal woowoo as well. There are a lot of such scams in the modern world, really, even the conspiracy "theories" are snake oil scams. one day you may actually see this, I'm not expecting you to now, but keep watching for such things, try saying to your preacher that you doubt it, see the response, it will be "well, we all have doubts but when you use this it will be better" or something more ambiguous that makes you think you're the one making the decision, but in reality, they just made the decision for you.

The mind is a powerful tool, for when you know how it works you can manipulate the minds of other people to get what you want. Just ask any sociopath.

<quoted text>Well I can certainly speak of the Southern Baptists from authority, so I can't disagree. As an organization, they rank up there with the Catholic Church and Ryan Seacrest.I think it goes deeper than denomination though.My personal opinion, which is worth less than an empty McDonalds bag, is that the most destructive element of monotheism was the literalizing of mythology. Is literalizing a word?One thing you have shown is that children learn from the mistakes of their parents. That is a good thing.

<quoted text>No, I don't think so, I think Christ expects us to stop sinning but it doesn't happen overnight and God knows that, which is why we need the Holy Spirit to help us along. It's a process, I spent most of my life a slave to my earthly desires (sin) and now, even though in 3 years I'm like a different person, I still have a long way to go, Christianity does not = perfection, we too are prone to sin, the only difference for me anyway, is that I feel deeply remorseful when I mess up and I admit it and I try to do better next time. I was never like that before. The Bible teaches that if I truly repent in my heart, I am forgiven but there may still be a lot I'll have to answer to. So no, I wouldn't say it's a jail free card.

You seem to think that now that you are a Christian, you are better than those who have left Christianity.

You say you lived most of your life as a slave to your 'earthly desires'. It's an earthly desire to want to eat every day, to be warm in the winter, to have food for your children. I'm guessing that's not what you mean.

Since you seem to think you are better, I have some questions for you.

1. Why are you better than those who spent most of their life as a Christian, truly trying to follow Jesus' teachings? Those who spent their life not a slave to earthly desires, but in raising their children, taking them to church, teaching them to be responsible human beings? Those who took care of widows and children and the homeless when at all possible?

2. Do you think ex-Christians woke up one morning and just thought,'I want to be a slave to my earthly desires and so I'm going to leave Christianity'?

3. Do you think we live totally different lives than we did as Christians? Do you think we now go out and rob, maim and murder people, became addicted to illegal drugs or alcohol, stopped doing for those less fortunate than we, and started wearing fishnet hose and skimpy clothing and hanging out on street corners?

4. Do you think that people who have lived their lives as people who were honest in their dealings with others, worked with integrity and honesty, loved our parents, children, friends and even strangers suddenly stopped doing so?

5. Please explain just what it is that makes you better than these people just because you have become a Christian.

I find these questions very important when people are trying to convince me that they have something better than I do and act as if they ARE better.

<quoted text>you are not only wrong but also stupid,if you are not able to recognize who is christian and who is not christian?how your peanuts little stinking brain is able to know what was happen 2000 years ago?such idiots exist not on this earth overseas,only here this land produce cretins,idiots, psychopaths,and maniacs like you bambling nonsense and feed of sick full of ulcers belly with viomits of old pigs

<quoted text>It's difficult not to sound condescending when saying this, but, the bible was actually written with that very intention in the first place. It was cropped, chopped, and cut up then sewn back together with the specific notion that the preachers, religious leaders, can justify commanding what they wanted the followers to do, and have a "reference" for why it's a valid position and action to take. People justify the contradictions, either by saying it "must be interpreted," while really just ignoring the parts they're told to by the preachers, or they say it's "out of context," when it's actually suppose to be taken out of context anyway. There are now four modern religions that are constructed that way, for that very reason, and one is actually a christian one with supplemental books.The key to a good con is to trick people into thinking that it's "foolish" to doubt it, or to prey on them when they really just need some words of encouragement by giving them a cookie cutter "feel good" story. Once they are hooked you draw them in with enforcement assertions, like "you need this," or "without this you will be empty." It's how they use to sell snake oil for curing illness, same exact concept, and how they trick people into buying herbal woowoo as well. There are a lot of such scams in the modern world, really, even the conspiracy "theories" are snake oil scams. one day you may actually see this, I'm not expecting you to now, but keep watching for such things, try saying to your preacher that you doubt it, see the response, it will be "well, we all have doubts but when you use this it will be better" or something more ambiguous that makes you think you're the one making the decision, but in reality, they just made the decision for you.The mind is a powerful tool, for when you know how it works you can manipulate the minds of other people to get what you want. Just ask any sociopath.

I agree with a lot of what you've said but it's not that simple for me and I gotta go now but will chat later ;D

<quoted text>Jesus came for the lost and the sinners, not the righteous. Once you accept Christ and the Holy Spirit is within, most of those things fall away, one still sins but the amount of grace needed lessens over time, as one strives to stop sinning, in my experience anyway.

One does not need an AWOL god, nor a contradictory and confusing manual to achieve that end.

<quoted text>You seem to think that now that you are a Christian, you are better than those who have left Christianity.You say you lived most of your life as a slave to your 'earthly desires'. It's an earthly desire to want to eat every day, to be warm in the winter, to have food for your children. I'm guessing that's not what you mean.Since you seem to think you are better, I have some questions for you.1. Why are you better than those who spent most of their life as a Christian, truly trying to follow Jesus' teachings? Those who spent their life not a slave to earthly desires, but in raising their children, taking them to church, teaching them to be responsible human beings? Those who took care of widows and children and the homeless when at all possible?2. Do you think ex-Christians woke up one morning and just thought,'I want to be a slave to my earthly desires and so I'm going to leave Christianity'?3. Do you think we live totally different lives than we did as Christians? Do you think we now go out and rob, maim and murder people, became addicted to illegal drugs or alcohol, stopped doing for those less fortunate than we, and started wearing fishnet hose and skimpy clothing and hanging out on street corners?4. Do you think that people who have lived their lives as people who were honest in their dealings with others, worked with integrity and honesty, loved our parents, children, friends and even strangers suddenly stopped doing so?5. Please explain just what it is that makes you better than these people just because you have become a Christian.I find these questions very important when people are trying to convince me that they have something better than I do and act as if they ARE better.

I don't think any such thing, I don't think that anybody is better than anyone, I just think that as a Christian, I am more likely to listen to another Christian, not someone who isn't a Christian, a non Christian, IMHO, has no place preaching on how to be a Christian, by all means individual beliefs are all valid to me but you chose your path so stick to it and leave others to choose their own. I don't have to or want to convince you or anyone of anything at all, I just don't like the way you assume to know me and flat out lie about nearly everything I post, it's creepy, obsessive and tiring. I owe you nothing.

<quoted text>I think, despite my rejection of the whole bible/Jesus/Christianity complex I was brought up in, I am still a Southern Baptist in my marrow.And it ain't particularly healthy.

I think we will all carry it with us until the end of our existence on this earth.

I personally did not throw out the baby with the bathwater. The good things I learned and practiced as a Christian, I still practice today. Helping the less fortunate and the aged. Not stealing or murdering.

Of course, I knew these things were wrong (or right) without the teachings, but didn't realize that until late in life. The one thing I did find in the Bible were the words of Jesus: seek and you shall find; knock and the door shall be opened. It took me a long time to get over the indoctrination of not seeking to know that these were powerful teachings.

I have found other powerful words since leaving Christianity. Everyone has truth within them. Everyone has some evil within them. Feed one or the other and you end up with the one you have fed.

I have never once had the thought that I am the most powerful or intelligent form of life in the universe. I have never once thought I had all the universal answers for everyone in this world. I do however think I have more answers to my own spiritual life since I left mainstream religion, because I have allowed myself to not fear questioning. I have learned that the only way to be assured that what you believe about life, the universe and Lady Gaga is to be educated enough on the subject to make a decision that is morally and ethically right for yourself. Fortunately, I did not have to do much research on Lady Gaga.

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